Report Gives School Bus Cameras Good Grades

Video cameras on school buses cut down on student misbehavior this year, a school district report states.

In a report released on Wednesday, the district said 805 students were warned and 392 students were suspended from buses.

There are 520 school buses in the county that carry 53,000 students to and from school each day. There are 121,000 students attending county schools.

School district officials randomly installed 60 cameras on the buses to nab students who misbehaved. Boxes are in each bus, but some are empty. The cameras are rotated among buses. It saves the district money.

District officials say the presence of the boxes was enough to deter misconduct among students.

"What we are doing seems to be successful," Schools Superintendent Monica Uhlhorn said.

Most of the cameras were placed on middle school buses, but some high schools and elementary schools were included when necessary.

School officials said they reviewed hundreds of videotapes. Then, school administrators were supplied with the portions of the tapes that showed student misbehavior.

School district officials say many parents became believers when shown footage of their child's misbehavior.

Larry Zabik, school district assistant Superintendent of support services, said that if a problem occurs on a bus, the district can put a camera in the empty box.

For instance, in one case, when there was a problem on a bus, school officials left a camera aboard for two weeks before they caught a student's misbehavior.

Cameras are usually rotated about once a week or less.

According to surveys of bus drivers, supervisors of bus drivers and school administrators, there is strong support for the bus camera program. The survey stated:

-- 85% of school bus drivers think student behavior has improved.

-- 95% of school bus driver supervisors want cameras to remain on buses.